Spatula utensils have long been employed in food preparation. Often described as indispensible, they are used in a variety of situations, from mixing ingredients to dispensing foods. Spatula utensils may also be used in a wide variety of non-food preparation applications. These applications may include compounding or medical uses, where the spatula is used to mix drugs, other chemical compounds, liquids, and other ingredients. The spatula is commonly used in situations where a flexible tool is desired to remove as much material sticking to the side of a container as possible.
Food spatula utensils found in the prior art, typically are comprised of a handle made from rigid or slightly flexible material and a spatula head, positioned at the end of the handle, made from a resilient material that conforms to the sides of containers. The resilient spatula head often has a pointed, right-angled edge and a rounded edge at its farthest extension.
The feature common to spatulas in the prior art is that the spatula head is generally one fifth to one fourth the length of the entire utensil. This allows the spatula head to be maneuvered in a variety of orientations. However, in larger containers, multiple swipes and duplicative motions may be required to remove the desired amount of material that is adhered to the sides of the container. This feature also hinders the amount of material that the spatulas may hold, further necessitating multiple swipes. While there may be larger spatula devices, their size is limited by the opening of the desired container.
Therefore, a need exists for improved spatula apparatuses that are configured to contact greater portions of container sidewalls. There is a further need for spatula apparatuses that are configured to hold and remove a larger amount of material from containers that have relatively small openings. Finally, there exists a need for spatula apparatuses that are configured to conform to and remove material from a plurality of containers without requiring multiple swipes and other duplicative motions by a user.